New Lens Testing: Winter Light on the Streets of Surry Hills, with the Fuji X-Pro 1 & 56mm f/1.2

Camera settings: 1/210s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/640s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/950s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/900s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/400s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/2700s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/420s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/210s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/480s at f/5.6 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/125s at f/4 on 320 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/950s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/1400s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/1250s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/140s at f/8 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/180s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/420s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/220s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

Camera settings: 1/450s at f/1.2 on 200 ISO with the Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2R lens on a Fuji X-Pro 1.

All right, I finally bit the bullet and got the Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 lens I'd been thinking about for six months or so, to replace my 60mm f/2.4 Macro. That's still a great lens (and I have one spare, if anyone's looking!), I just prefer something with a little more speed & easy focusability in low light for the kinds of things I tend to use it for. I also just really like shallow depth of field - or at very least, I like having the option if I want it.

I did have the amazing Canon 85L f/1.2 a few years ago now, which almost felt like it was a light source in itself - it seemed to have the ability to actually PUT light onto a person when you could barely see them yourself - but at the time, I had camera bodies with a 1.25x crop (the 1DMkIV) which made it just a little bit too long for a lot of situations. So, I traded to the 50L f/1.2, which is also great - but now I've got 5DMkIII bodies, and it's not quite as long as I'd like. So, this little (and, relatively, quite cheap!) 56mm on a 1.5x crop Fuji sensor will hopefully fill that niche nicely for me.

Ironically, the day I picked this new lens up I got a retweet from Fuji UK saying 'look how sharp these are!' - most of them being taken with the 60mm, of course. Well, they'll be even sharper next time, I'm sure!

The only thing I may miss without the 60mm is this - the fact that it's a macro lens means it can focus extremely close, so if you want to throw something completely out of focus, it goes REALLY out of focus...